Mark Ruffalo, the American actor known for playing the Hulk in the Avengers movies and an outspoken critic of Israel, has fired back after studio Paramount accused him of being antisemitic.
The company issued a statement after Ruffalo accused moguls David and Larry Ellison of “powering some of the most destructive and inhuman forces in the world” while criticising Paramount’s $110 billion merger with Warner Bros Discovery. David, the son of centibillionaire and Oracle founder Larry, is the CEO of Paramount Skydance. Oracle is a software company with ties to the Israeli military.
A spokesperson for Paramount said the company was “troubled when antisemitic tropes are invoked in purported service of a business dispute. Words like ‘genocide’ and ‘apartheid,’ applied to a corporate transaction, aren’t just wrong — they’re a bridge too far, and they cheapen the very real suffering those words are meant to describe. This doesn’t deserve a response in kind — and to be clear, we don’t tolerate prejudice of any kind, against anyone.”
Paramount has a history of supporting Israel. Last year, it condemned a pledge signed by more than 4,000 actors, entertainers, and producers, including some Hollywood stars, to not work with Israeli film institutions complicit in the abuse of Palestinians by Israel.
